Language and Compositionality

Laura discusses the complexities of language, emphasizing its inherent fuzziness and the challenges of formalizing it. She contrasts strict and lenient forms of compositionality, suggesting that language models thrive because they can capture systematicity without being purely formal. The conversation also touches on how semantics in humans is shaped by our physical and causal interactions with the world, hinting at the potential for language models to develop a similar understanding.